2023-10-16 16:16:08
Zurich (awp) – The Swiss Stock Exchange started the week in disorganized order. After opening in the green again, the SMI quickly fell and reached its lowest of the day early in the afternoon, before recovering in the wake of Wall Street and briefly returning to green and above 10,900 points to finish narrowly in red below this level. Investors are currently avoiding taking risks, fearing an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and as the results season begins.
In New York, Wall Street progressed in the morning, at the start of a week which will be loaded with corporate results and always subject to volatility in the face of geopolitical tensions. “Stocks fell on Friday as investors analyzed third-quarter results from major financial companies,” Wells Fargo analysts recalled.
“However, despite largely positive results, investors expect increased volatility due to rising bond yields, rising oil prices, persistent inflation and conflicts in the Middle East,” they said. they added. For Patrick O’Hare, from Briefing.com, “compared to Friday, the tone has improved this (Monday) morning but the concern about an aggravation of the war between Israel and Hamas is still very present in people’s minds “.
In terms of rare macroeconomic information, hotel nights in Switzerland should have increased by 8.1% during the month of September year-on-year, according to a first estimate from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). In the United States, the manufacturing activity index for the New York region (Empire State/Fed) stood at -4.6 points in October, while it was expected at -6.0 points.
The SMI ended down 0.10% at 10,889.03 points, with a low of 10,841.92 and a high of 10,925.68 in the opening phase. The SLI gained 0.14% to 1704.75 points and the SPI marginally lost 0.03% to 14,235.61 points. Of the 30 star stocks, 15 fell, 13 advanced and Swiss Life and Logitech finished unchanged.
The carrier Roche (-1.7%) finished bottom, behind VAT Group (-1.5%) and the good Schindler (-1.2%).
The Roche dividend certificate (-1.1%) also weighed heavily on the index. Novartis (-0.4%) and Nestlé (-0.3%) also slowed down.
Sika (-0.3% to 235 Swiss francs) was subject to two divergent price target adjustments. While Jefferies raised its rate to 325 Swiss francs, Barclays lowered it to 365 Swiss francs. The American investment bank believes that the Zug firm should not have escaped the difficulties of the construction market. The British establishment believes it should have increased from July to September, but that expectations should be more realistic.
Today’s podium consists of Sandoz (+5.6%), UBS and Lonza (each +1.9%) and Straumann (+1.6%).
The big bank benefited from an increase in recommendation to “outperform”, against “sector perform”, from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) which also raised the price target to 30 from 20 Swiss francs. The Canadian analyst sees the recovery of Credit Suisse as a success and expects new upward potential for the shares of the bank with three keys.
On the eve of its investor day, the pharmaceutical industry supplier Lonza signed a production contract in Visp for the American company Vaxcyte, which will have to reassure it during its investor day on Tuesday.
Alcon (+1.2%) did not suffer from a cosmetic lowering of its price target by Citigroup, which reaffirmed its recommendation to purchase the stock (buy), counting on annual growth in shares until 2027. revenues of 7%.
On the broader market, the Lucerne steelmaker Swiss Steel (+8.8%) is in great difficulty, according to an article in the SonntagsZeitung, for which new restructuring and state aid are necessary.
Softwareone (+5.3%) would have received non-binding takeover offers from private equity firms Bain Capital and Apax Partners, according to Archyde.com on Friday.
BKW (+0.9%) won a 90 million euro contract in Hamburg.
Cicor (+0.7%) confirmed its annual forecasts at the end of the third quarter, during which new orders jumped to more than 100 million Swiss francs.
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